


Texture

by CyberSapphire



Category: Super Robot Monkey Team Hyperforce Go!
Genre: Comfort, M/M, Spoilers for season 3+, i can't believe this is a rarepair, the rest of the team is there too but only for a bit
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-05-17
Updated: 2019-05-17
Packaged: 2020-03-06 14:24:59
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,306
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18852877
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/CyberSapphire/pseuds/CyberSapphire
Summary: Antauri has been having thoughts about his new body, and how he experiences the world now. Otto takes notice, because he's way more perceptive than we give him credit for. He also knows just what to do to make Antauri feel better.





	Texture

 

Antauri sat in the command center, running a silver finger across the armrest of his chair. He was trying his best look look like he was deep in thought, but he wasn’t really thinking of anything in particular. His finger glided across the fabric, though he didn’t feel the texture. He could imagine it was the plush it looked like, but there was no way for him to tell. The feeling was completely absent, and the numbness in its place was a point Antauri focused on. He was so lost in his own head, that he didn’t notice Otto when he landed with a light clunk on top of the orb chair. The green monkey watched him silently. He laid down, still watching Antauri. While the tiny action didn’t seem like much, Otto found it mesmerizing.

To him, anything the silver monkey did was mesmerizing. The chrome finish made almost his whole body into a mirror, reflecting the dark greenish-yellow of the chair, and the white of the floor. If you stood in the right place on a sunny day, the light reflecting off of his face could blind you. He had no fur anymore, but Otto found it fit him well. He snaked his tail down the side of the chair, and poked Antauri in the shoulder.

He didn’t notice.

He tried again, this time, making sure it made a tapping noise.

“Oh, Otto. Hello,”

“Whatcha doing?” He said, upside down.

“Thinking.” Antauri said. Otto tilted his head, urging him to continue. “About my senses,”

“Touch, smell, taste?”

“They’re fine.”

Another head tilt.

“None of them are like they used to be.”

Otto jumped down from the chair, and sat down on the floor in front of Antauri.

“How so?”

“My entire body feels like how my hands felt when I had my claws out. Aware of the position, but almost numb. I can tell when I’m touching something, but the texture is a mystery. Light touches are completely gone. So is temperature. I can only feel temperature when it’s dangerous. It’s almost like I’m floating.”

“All the time?”

“All the time. I’ve found that I cannot smell anymore, either. I never realized how powerful that sense was, until my tea seemed to be non-existent, despite being right in front of me. The flavor was as absent as the scent.”  Antauri sighed, ignoring the irony of that action. There was a beat of silence. Otto’s face didn’t really express much, but he stood up, and sat down next to Antauri. While he wasn’t one for encouraging words of wisdom, he knew how much a small gesture could mean.

They sat together for a while, leaning against each other. Antauri desperately wanted to feel Otto's fur, how soft each curl is, but this was as good as he was going to get.

  
  
  
  
  


The next day, Otto seemed to disappear. This happened, occasionally, and the team left him alone. In fact, over 24 hours passed and not a monkey had seen him. But today, Sprx and Gibson were discussing what to get for dinner, and Otto hadn’t shown up. That didn’t happen. Missing dinner twice in a row? Even if he wasn't hungry he always showed up just to socialize. Well, he missed it sometimes, but it was rare.

“Where’s Otto?” Chiro asked, sending a wave of realization through the team.

“I have not seen him since this morning,” said Gibson.

“I haven't seen him since yesterday!”

“Do you think he’s working on something?”

“When isn’t he working on something? The question isn't if, it's what's important enough for him to pull an Antauri and go silent for a whole day?” Sprx said, then immediately regretted, as Antauri turned to exit the room, “No offence, it's just not like him.”

“None taken. I'm going to ask him what's going on. You know how he prefers we be blunt with him.”

“Right, all thi-” Before Gibson could finish, Antauri phased through the floor.

 

He could've phased through the ceiling of Otto's room as well, but he opted for knocking. There was the sound of Otto’s junkyard soldering iron coming through the door. It was a very distinct rattling, which wasn't a noise a soldering iron should make, but Otto liked it too much to fix it. The door whooshed open, and Otto pulled Antauri inside. While it was always a mess, this was something else. This was like looking directly into Otto’s brain. Which, with concentration,  Antauri could do. Papers were everywhere, discarded wires in haphazard piles, and medical journals from Gibson's room were bookmarked in an array of sticky notes, one open on Otto's work desk. A notebook with wiring diagrams was on the floor beside Otto's bed, which had turned into another table in all of the chaos, suggesting that Otto hadn't slept since the talk they had yesterday. The only thing that looked like more of a mess than his room was Otto himself, who had his welding goggles on, but you could still tell how tired the eyes behind them were. His fur was tangled, and a few curls held a pencil or a screw, leftovers of a weird habit. Otto's tail flicked with unknown energy.

“Heya! Wanna see what I've been working on?”

“I mostly just wanted to see if you were alright.” Antauri paused for a beat, Otto took off his goggles, confused. “we haven't see you in two days.”

“what”

Antauri nodded. Otto put his hands in his face and groaned.

“You need to sleep, but more important at the moment, you need to eat.”

“Not hungry!” Antauri didn't even have to reply, Otto's own stomach proved him wrong with a comedic growl. “okay, I am. But you gotta at least try out the prototype of the thing!”

“the thing?”

“yeah! I was gonna make it a surprise, but I’m just too excited about it, I made it for you!”

If Antauri still had a heart, it would've skipped a beat. Before he could brew on the thought of a gift for too long, Otto had popped his wrist open with a screwdriver. His hands worked quickly and precisely, and affixed something to Antauri’s fingers. He plugged something in, and stepped back. On each of Antauri’s fingertips was a little black circle, with a wire running out of it. It almost looked like the pads on a cat’s paw, but more importantly, they felt cold.

  
Antauri’s eyes widened. He hadn’t been able to describe something as cold since…

He rubbed two fingers together. The fingerpads were smooth and slightly squishy, and touching them so lightly with eachother tickled a bit. He felt the metal on his other hand, and it was freezing cold, impossibly smooth, and he felt the urge to scratch it. He looked back up at Otto.

“Do you like it? It’s not super refined yet, but I was thi-”

“Otto, I love it. This…” He took Otto’s hand, the metal was warm, softer than his, moving subtly with every moment. “This means the world to me.”

Otto smiled, and was engulfed in a hug. Antauri ran his new fingerpads through Otto's fur. He'd imagined that it was going to be matted, or messy, but it was as soft as he'd hoped. Otto, pleasantly surprised at physical affection from  _Antauri_  , squeezed him tight. When they finally pulled away, Antauri kept hold of Otto's hand. His breathing was shaky, despite not needing to breathe at all.

"Are you crying?"

"No," Antuari said, 

"If you could cry, would you be crying?"

"...Maybe,"

Words could not express how happy he was, and they probably couldn't express how happy Antauri was. Words _could_ express how tired he felt, though. He’d sleep later. For now, he held Antauri’s hand, which fidgeted with his knuckles as they walked up to the command center for dinner.


End file.
